祐 Yòu

Li You, the commoner

The commoner You had the courtesy name Zan. In the eighth year of Wude he was made Prince of Yiyang, then raised to Prince of Chu, then made Prince of Yan, and at last enfeoffed as Prince of Qi, with the post of Area Commander-in-chief of Qi Prefecture. Only in the eleventh year of Zhenguan did he go to his fief. The next year he came to court and was kept in the capital by illness. His maternal uncle Yin Hongzhi, Assistant of the Imperial Stables, was a crafty man, and he said to You, "Prince, you have many brothers. When the emperor has passed on, how will you keep yourself safe? You must get capable men to help you." He then brought his retainer Yan Hongliang to meet You. You was pleased, gave him gold and silk, and had him recruit swordsmen. In the fifteenth year he returned to his prefecture. Earlier, when the emperor appointed the Administrators and Adjutants of the princes' establishments, he always chose upright men who dared to speak, so that any fault would be reported to him. But You was sunk among a crowd of petty men and loved hunting and shooting birds. His Administrator Xue Dading remonstrated many times, but he would not listen. The emperor held that Dading had failed in his duty of guiding the prince and dismissed him, appointing Quan Wanji instead. Wanji was hard and hasty by nature and kept You in check by the law. There were two men, Zan Junmo and Liang Menghu, who had won favour by their riding and archery; Wanji drove them away, but You secretly brought them back and was intimate with them. The emperor several times wrote to rebuke You, and Wanji, fearing he would be punished too, said to You, "Prince, you are the emperor's beloved son. The emperor wants you to repent and change, and that is why he keeps instructing and rebuking you. If you can truly correct yourself and take the blame, I ask to go to court and speak for you, and the emperor's displeasure should ease." So You wrote a letter apologising for his faults. Wanji saw the emperor and said that You was about to reform. The emperor was pleased and rewarded Wanji generously, but still reproached and warned You. When You heard that Wanji had been rewarded while he himself had been rebuked, he thought Wanji had betrayed him and grew more resentful. Then Wanji, suspecting Junmo and the others of disloyalty, had them imprisoned, kept You from going out of the gates of his fief, and exposed all You's crimes to the court, and You could not contain his fury. An edict sent Liu Dewei, Minister of Justice, to investigate; the charges were found largely true, and the emperor summoned You and Wanji back to the capital. You plotted with Yan Hongliang and the others, and they shot Wanji dead and cut his body to pieces. Those around You urged him to raise troops at once, so he called up every man in the city aged fifteen and over, and on his own authority gave his followers the titles Supreme Pillar of State, Grand Master of Splendid Happiness and Commander Unequalled in Honour, and made princes such as the Prince Who Upholds the East and the Prince Who Upholds the West. He opened the storehouses to give rewards, and drove people to build battlements, deepen the moat and repair armour and weapons. The people hated him, and all of them let themselves down the walls on ropes at night and fled. An edict ordered Li Ji, Minister of War, and Liu Dewei to raise troops from the nearest places to attack him. Day and night You took Hongliang and the others, five men in all, to feast and make merry in front of his consort. When they talked of the government troops, Hongliang said wildly, "Prince, do not worry. With the right hand we will hold our wine and food, and with the left we will brush them aside with the sword." You trusted and loved Hongliang and was delighted to hear it. The emperor wrote an order to You in his own hand: "I always warned you not to go near petty men, and this is exactly why. Once you were my son; now you are the enemy of the state. Above, I am ashamed before august Heaven; below, I am ashamed before the Sovereign Earth." When he had finished writing he wept and sent it off. You sent proclamations to the counties, and each county at once reported them to the throne. Driven into a corner, You sent up a memorial: "I am the emperor's son. I was slandered and plotted against by Wanji; Heaven sent down its power and the guilty man has been caught. I went mad and lost my mind; I was dazed and terrified, and with no troops around me I wanted to flee, and that is why I took up some weapons to protect myself." At that time Li Ji had not yet arrived, but the troops of Qing, Zi and other prefectures had already gathered. Someone urged You to seize women and children and flee to Douzi to live as a bandit. Before he had decided, Du Xingmin, Administrator of the Military Section, led troops by night, broke through the wall and got in. You, Hongliang and the others shut the doors and resisted until midday, when Xingmin shouted, "I am fighting a rebel for the state. If you do not surrender at once, we will burn you out." The soldiers piled up firewood, and You came out. He was seized and sent to the capital, ordered to take his own life in the Palace Domestic Service, reduced to a commoner, and buried with the rites of a duke of state. An edict exempted Qi Prefecture from service for one year, and Xingmin was promoted to Prefect of Ba Prefecture and enfeoffed as Duke of Nanyang Commandery. You liked to keep fighting ducks. Just before he rebelled, a wild cat bit more than forty of the ducks, bit off their heads and went away. When he fell, more than forty people were drawn in and put to death. During You's revolt a man of the prefecture, Luo Shitou, listed You's crimes to his face and rushed straight at him with a knife to stab him, but failed and was killed. An edict gave him the posthumous title Prefect of Bo Prefecture. Once, when You led horsemen round the towns and villages, a countryman, Gao Junzhuang, said, "The emperor himself put down the rebels and troubles of the empire, and his lands, armour and troops are beyond counting. Now you, Prince, start a revolt with a few thousand men; it is like trying to shake Mount Tai with one hand. And what of your lord and father?" You attacked and captured him, but was ashamed at his words and could not bring himself to kill him. An edict promoted Gao to Magistrate of Yushe. Edit